Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-08-12
FULL ACCOUNT OF THE HORROR.
seventy-Five Killed Score MortaIly Hurt
and 200 Wounded.

FORREST, Ills, Aug. l2.-Seventy-five
killed, and POO injured, perhaps a score of
them fatally, is the appalling record OF
Wednesday nights's disaster two miles east
of this little town. Before daylight Thurs
day morning there were sixty-five bodies laid
out ON the prairie, and forty or fifty wound
ed were living under some bushes not far
away. Some of the latter died while being
lifted up on fiat cars for transportation to tins
village. At the wreck hundreds of men were
searching for more victims and shortly after
daylight four more unacceptable
MASSES OF HUMAN FLESH
and battered clothing were found deep i'll the
ruins
The disaster occurred just before midnight
In the doomed train were sixteen cars all
but one carrying passengers, and the whole
drawn by two engines The train had left
Peoria about O'Clock, carrying more than
900 excursionists, bound for Niagara Falls
Two miles east of this village was little
trestle on fire-caught fire from the burning
prairie-no longer than fifteen feet, and
above the ditch no more than six feet. This
little culvert's destruction well nigh caused
the destruction of the entire train. The cul-
vert safely bore the first engine but the
wheels of its te nder were caught IN the sink
ing rails, and frightfu wreck ensued Car
after car
LEAPED THE NARROW CHASM
and teleScoped the coaches preceding. Tbs
great weight and impetus of the half dozen
Pullman sleepers drove their huge frames
with terrible force against the chair cars and
day coaches ahead of them. Three cars were
so telescoped together that 1t was almost i'm
possible to tell the ruins of one from those of
another One coach entered another, split
ting it and showing all the seats and passen-
gers into a. mass at the far end, leaving the
floor as clean as if swept by a knife
In the train there were sixteen cars First
the baggage-car, then the private car of Su-
perintendent Armstrong, followed by six day
coaches, two chair-cars and SIX sleepers All
of these except the sleepers were
ENGULFED IN THE WRECK.
The first sleeper stopped with its forward
trucks in the Inflated cuIvert, like its fellows
unframed But the nine passenger cars and
the baggage-car were heaped In mass of
kindling wood. In jumping the culvert
three or four of the cars left their trucks
buried in the embankment, one under an
other, to a depth of eight feet The car
bodies left the trucks and hurled themselves
against the cars preceding The disaster
came
ABSOLUTELY WITHOUT WARNING.
Even the engineer of the first locomotive
Dave Sutherland, had no opportunity to APP
ply the brakes before reaching the culvert,
under which the flames had crept almost I'M
observed
The engineer of the second locomotive Ed
McClntock, was killed with his hand ON the
throttle His body was crushed and his head
is still under the engine. Abner Applegreen,
his fireman. says no fire was seen in the cul-
vert The first he knew of the disaster there
was a sort of
SHOCK AID ROAR,
which he could not understand, and he sud
denly found himself waist-deep in debris his
engineer living headless by his side.
Fully S ore of the ladies of ChatSwoTth
volunteered their services and rapidly became
adept nurses under the Instructions Of the
doctors and administered medicine, made
bandages, and famed the many victims.
In one corner of the stage in the town hall
lay beautiful young lady named Julia Val
deco, who
MOANING IN AGONY
while her life ebbed away. Dr. Ballard pro
nounced her case hopeless on account of the
severe internal injuries that she had received.
Another victim whose death is memeutariiy
expected is man whose underclothing Is
marked Smith. He has been UNCONSCIOUS
since his removal from the wrecked train,
and is suffering from conclusion of the brain.
He is man of about As years and wears
short brown beard
On another cot lies Mrs w H. Walters
suffering from compound fracture OF the
right leg, broken jaw, and deep gashes on
her head and arms Her injuries will no
doubt end fatally
A sad sight is that presented on a mattress
in the auditorium of the hall where a Mrs.
Clark, propped up by numerous pillows, is
dying of internal injuries, besides several
fractures and bruises about her person Mrs.
Walters daughter, Miss Walters, is also seri-
ously injured, but she may recover.
LIST OF DANGEROUSLY WOUNDED.
A list of others who are dangerously hurt
and lying in the town hall: J. F. Stearns, j.
| Could Peoria: E H French. Miss Goderel,
Grant; Morris Blouse, Hazen Wallace, J.
McMasters, A. Thumberger, A. F. McGee,
Peoria; David Crawford, Mrs Borden, Mrs.
Forbes, H. Aberhan, J B. Kelly, Breeds
Station, Ills; S. B. Steen, Jersey City, N. j.
Mrs. F. Badly. DR. Steele says that j. B,
Na2um, whose hip was broken, will not sur
vive
| RESoUERs AT WORK.
The rescuers worked on digging in the de-
bris, cut ting away timbers and twisting iron
rods About o'clock thunderstorm added
its impressiveness to the already fearful scene,
and rain fell in torrents. By the flashes OF
lightning the bloody faces and disiigured
forms of the injured men and women could
be seen, and after each thunder crash the
cries of the suffering rose with redoubled
plaintiveness Many had to be fairly pulled
from their imprisonment, the torture bring
ing forth shrieks and cries sad enough to un-
nerve the manifest
DEATH DISSEMINATED
in most puzzling fashion. Several hus
| bands were killed while their wives sitting
by their sides escaped with slight bruises
George Furth was forced through a window
and but slightly hurt, while his brother-in